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Old 8 Mar 20, 05:48 PM  
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lumosq102
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A Grand Adventure – May 2019 - Day 5 - visiting paradise

Sunday 19 May – Visiting Paradise on Castaway Cay

Day 4 is here
Index is here

Welcome back to our three nights around the Bahamas on the Disney Dream. Tomorrow we would be back in Orlando carrying on with our theme park fun, but today we had one last day of rest, relaxation, and delicious food that night at my favourite restaurant, Remy, for my early birthday celebration.

Well, that was the plan.

Remember how R disappeared the night before and wasn’t well?

I woke in the middle of the night to find that she was really poorly, we’ll avoid details but her stomach was not happy. I think we were both thankful that R had the bed closer to the bathroom.

When I woke again at 5:30am R was firmly in the land of nod. I stumbled onto the veranda to find the most tranquil of scenes, the world was asleep, the moon was full and the ship was moving at a decent pace through the seas to our next destination. It was glorious.



You can just see another couple of cruise ships far off on the horizon there

It was so dark that the full moon almost looked like the sun



I threw on my bathing suit cover up, grabbed Herc the camera, and crept out of our stateroom, taking care to ensure that I was not waking up the other one.

Herc was somewhat confused in the lift lobby – it was warm out on the veranda, but here inside the ship the air conditioning had the place chilled to icy cold, leaving the lens all foggy. I’m rather fond of the almost spooky results in my mirror self portrait – it’s a 70’s horror movie waiting to happen.



Shall we head out on deck?



You might ask why I was on the deck of a silent cruise ship at 5:45 in the morning, all by myself. If you have “enjoyed” one of my trip reports before you will have seen a redonkulous amount of sunrise photos. There was no way I was missing a DCL sunrise. I had slightly mistook how early I needed to be up and about, but that meant that other than bumping into the occasional crew member cleaning, I had the whole place to myself.

It was bliss.





The ice cream booth was closed though. Sad times.





I mean, look at that full moon. It was like nature had provided a spotlight on the Dream



Once I headed right to the top of the ship in the adult only area I started to get a glimpse of that sunrise peeking over the horizon.







But behind me, the moon was still high in the dark indigo sky









The lower level of the adult only area – I adore that pool, and those large portholes are windows into Cove Café (the only place to get a good cup of coffee on the ship)























One of the bars in the adult only area, we never did make it up here for a drink.













It was a little before 6:30am when the sun started to pop up over the horizon



And my solitude started to creep away



That land on the horizon there? Castaway Cay, a place I had been chomping at the bit to visit again since that first cruise 5 years ago.



I was excited, and delighted to be using the big camera again apparently. Shockingly, I really was brutal with the edit button here, only sharing a fraction of the photos I ended up taking that morning. Really.



It was just so beautiful


Edited at 06:00 PM.
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Old 8 Mar 20, 05:52 PM  
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Life was starting to pick up around the ship so I headed back through Cabanas to head on down to our stateroom.



R was just starting to wake up as I came back to the room and was still feeling a little delicate. We chatted through our plans for the day and decided that the most prudent way forward would be to keep things chill, very chill. There would be no way that going to Remy, the glorious 7 course rich, decadent gourmet adventure would be compatible with R’s very delicate tum so I headed on down to guest relations to explain what had happened and ask that they cancel our reservation for us. We were both a little heartbroken, but overall we have always had good health on hols. It’s a statistical likelihood that eventually one of us would be poorly and need to cancel something accordingly. It sucked that we had to cancel Remy, but there was no way it would be workable.

Back on the balcony at 7:20, R watched as we pulled into Castaway Cay. Look at that tiny little slice of heaven.





Although R wasn’t in the mood for breakfast, she was kind enough to accompany me up to Cabanas whilst I stuffed my face. I’d been up for hours by this point so not surprisingly that I was starting to get a little peckish (read: hangry).

We found a table by the window which gave us a lovely view over the glorious turquoise blue bay



I left R watching the seagulls flying up to the ship whilst I nipped over to Cove Café for coffee. As I was choosing the design on our coffee today we both got Captain America on our coffee.





I nipped up to the buffet for a fiesta of eggs and carbs.



The over easy egg was yummy, the scrambled eggs less so.

I also ordered an omelette at the station that was brought over to me pretty quickly. Now this was delicious – all spinach and cheese goodness



R’s breakfast was the carton of milk you can see in the background of the first food picture. Poor R ☹

We nipped back up to the stateroom to watch the ship pull in and the crew getting the island ready for thousands of eager tourists. The view from our veranda was pretty lovely







the view up from our veranda – those seagulls were very excitable!







We let the first rush of guests leave the ship before heading on down. R was feeling a lot steadier so we thought a couple of hours laid on the beach would do her the world of good.

We grabbed a couple of towels when we left the ship, walked along the path and hopped on the next tram.

Tram selfie!



Looking at this now, I have no idea how R managed to pull the energy together to drag herself off the ship.

You have to take 2 trams to get t the adult only beach Serenity Bay – one to the central area and then a second that goes down the old runway (I do find it hysterical that Disney’s private island –allegedly – was previously used by drug smugglers)


By the time we got to the beach it was moderately busy, so we wandered all the way to the end to find a couple of suitable loungers under an umbrella and settled in to watch the world go by. And a storm to arrive





I did hop into the water, but it was still a little chilly (the sun needed to get its hat on and warm things up a little more) so took to stretching out on the lounger and just enjoy the world going by. I was supposed to be yoga-ing on Serenity Bay, but I could not see anyone who was setting up for yoga so settled in instead with a book (Good Omens, should you be interested – I was very excited for the TV show that was due out on Amazon Prime the same day we were flying home. Good Omens is one of my all time favourite books so something as monumental as a TV series deserved a re read).



That impending storm did make it to us eventually, and the lifeguard cleared the sea of swimmers due to the lightening. Whilst most of our fellow beach go-ers headed back for shelter, we came down with a bad case of British and decided to huddle under the umbrella and wait it out.





It tipped it down.

But still, we got to enjoy watching the rain pass through, and a stingray was enjoying the opportunity to swim all the way up to the shore




(it’s the little black smudge above the deck chair – apols for the poor quality snap, it was iPhones only on the beach)

It was not long before the storm passed, the skies cleared and the sea was looking just glorious



And all of our fellow beach inhabitants returned





So long storm!

A little before 1pm we decided it was time to head back towards the ship. R had reached her limit for excitement and needed some A/C as soon as possible. We hopped on the tram back to the central area, nipped into the little shop for the merch (the Castaway Cay bits and pieces are only available on the island) and a little cool off before heading back onto the ship. Looking back on our day now, we probably should have parcelled R back off to bed for a few hours, missed the storm and then head onto the beach, but hey ho – hindsight is 20/20 and all that. It was a lovely morning…

A few more iphone snaps as we headed back to the ship.



Staff parking!













We took a moment to cool off before heading to Cabanas for a spot of lunch. R’s appetite was still MIA and I’m not a fan of the bbq places on the island (very meat forward as you would expect, and the veggie burgers just look dry and ugh) so Cabanas it was.

I got what was becoming my Cabana’s buffet standard:



veggies, rice, mac n cheese and a few fries. The mac and cheese was particularly delicious, but you just can’t beat a nice plate of veggies and rice (the perils of a northern vegetarian growing up in the 80’s– my palate developed to embrace the side dishes that became my mains!)

R went out to Flo’s to pick up a couple of slices of pizza which is all she fancied. If she took more than a mouthful of either I missed it



I adore the Cabana’s cups. Wish they sold them on board



R was feeling wobbly so we took ourselves back to the stateroom for a rest. We both had a quick shower before popping the Emperor’s New Groove and settling in for an afternoon of relaxing and a little packing up ready for our return to land tomorrow.

A quick snap of our Cruise merch haul



The tervis tumbler has been utterly fantastic – kept ice coffees cold for hours through last year’s heatwave (including travel on the London Underground at rush hour), and hot drinks piping hot, so whilst I was a bit hesitant of the price ($28 ish) it is well worth it.



and so cute.
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Old 8 Mar 20, 05:56 PM  
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I couldn’t help but spend a little more time on the veranda before we were to sail away. Look at that gorgeous island. Next time Castaway Cay, we will spend more time with you (and take swimming socks – that beach / sea gets super rocky in places!)













Once we waved so long to the island and tidied up all of our stuff which had spread across the cabin in the couple of days we had been on the ship it was early evening. Our dinner plans had been cancelled and R was still in need of simple foods, so we decided that our dinner plans would be room service (no additional charge for most items, but tips to the CM delivering should be given).

So we called room service and ordered a bowl of tomato soup each and a grilled cheese sandwich each





The grilled cheese was in dire need of more cheese – it was pretty much one square of processed cheese per sandwich (I’m a big fan of processed cheese, but this was a bit skimpy), but not bad when dipped in the soup

We also ordered the cheese plate



which was, of course, delicious

and the key lime pie, which had been sent through the flavour vacuum. Looks pretty, tasted of nothing.



Whilst we were enjoying our early evening of picking at cheese and doing nothing much at all, we had a call from the check in desk at Remy; they were reminding us that it was time for our reservation. Erm. Turns out that the message from the guest services team had not gotten through to them and they were still expecting us. I was so disappointed that they had prepped all our food and we were now letting it all go to waste. The receptionist was lovely and tracked down what had happened with guest services. It took about an hour, a few phone calls and a few reminders of what had happened to make us cancel our reservation at the last minute. Thankfully we managed to get things ironed out and we would not be charged for the missed reservation. It was a last reminder of what we were missing, and after a rather uninspiring dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup it was a bit of a slap to the face… oh well. Next time!

We both wanted to stretch our legs and take in a little more of the ship so we dressed and went a wandering.

It was a little after 8.30pm when we found ourselves in the adult entertainment district (oh that sounds so wrong!) and popped into Pink, the champagne bar, for a drink. It was deserted

The menu:



I went with the Elderbubble, R ordered the Pomegranate Passion.



It’s a very pretty space, but might need a few more people to give it a little atmosphere







Cocktail enjoyed, we realised we needed to go back to the room to put the case out if we didn’t want to walk it off the ship ourselves in the morning. The dash there and back to the lifts gave us the opportunity to take another photo at our elevator mirror



two weary gals



we skipped down to the atrium with just enough time to meet one character before the little show. Can you guess who we waited for?



I have no idea why this is so blue. Under the sea filter I didn’t know I had?



Love that mouse!



Now for a few photos from the See you real soon show itself. Its super cute and unlike the sail away party, I don’t think I could ever skip this.















look at those outfits!







See ya real soon Mickey. Does tomorrow in Epcot suit your diary?



Back in the stateroom, we had a penguin (I like to think its wrapped up in an elegant cape, like a 20’s starlet) and extra chocolates.



R was starting to feel a little better



One last trip out to watch the sea from our veranda.



Although the cruise did not go to plan (and was far too short – would not recommend a 3 night if at all possible) it reminded us just how much we love Disney Cruise Line. The cast, the ship, the characters… its just a wonderful experience from start to finish that we need to do again, and soon! Fingers and toes crossed it will not be another 5 years before we are back on board.



And with that, it was time for bed.

Our walking tally was not too shabby today



tomorrow though, tomorrow we are back to park life and we have a late night planned at Epcot for the DVC member Moonlight Magic party – and rare characters! Until then, thank you so much for reading our DCL tales. We have 12 days of park time still to go!
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Old 8 Mar 20, 06:29 PM  
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Sounds like you both still had a lovely day despite R’s illness, glad she perked up by the end of the day.

Your photos could be in the Disney brochures! Some absolute stunners today. I’d decided against a cruise and you’ve made me very tempted again!
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Old 8 Mar 20, 06:45 PM  
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Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar View Post
Sounds like you both still had a lovely day despite R’s illness, glad she perked up by the end of the day.

Your photos could be in the Disney brochures! Some absolute stunners today. I’d decided against a cruise and you’ve made me very tempted again!
Thank you so much

I'd honestly recommend DCL to anyone. Its so chilled, the ships are gorgeous, the staff fantastic. I didn't think I would enjoy it on our first foray, and i wouldn't add it to every trip (i love my park time) but every now and again it gives that Disney hit without the sore feet!
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Old 8 Mar 20, 07:17 PM  
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Wow your photos really are incredible. Those morning sunrise pictures are just perfect!

Sorry to hear your day didn’t go to plan - but still sounds like a lovely chilled day. Looking forward to reading the rest
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Old 8 Mar 20, 08:01 PM  
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Oh no such a shame you had to cancel your special dinner. The boat looks so glorious in the early hours without all the people. Such a beautiful sunrise and you're right the moon did look like a spotlight shining down on the ship.

Another lovely day on board, hopefully you were both fully recharged ready for the hectic days ahead.
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Old 8 Mar 20, 09:48 PM  
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Fantastic sunrise photos.
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Old 8 Mar 20, 11:09 PM  
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Absolutely brilliant photos, thank you for sharing 😊
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Old 10 Apr 20, 02:22 PM  
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Just found this trip report - thanks so much for sharing! Sorry Kirsty wasn’t well, glad you managed a good day regardless.
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